Parish Council Meetings

Parish Council Meetings

West Bergholt Parish Council meets at 7.30pm on the fourth Wednesday of every month (except in August & December).  The Parish Council is part of open-government and therefore these meetings are open to the press and public, except in specific circumstances where it is appropriate that agenda items must be addressed in a closed forum. On these rare occasions, details of the closed elements will be announced when the meeting agenda is issued.

Meeting Venue

The meetings are usually held in the John Lampon Hall (back hall) in the Orpen Memorial Hall, Lexden Road, CO6 3BW. Please check the agenda for confirmation of the venue or email the Parish Clerk at  [email protected].

Public Engagement

In 2009 the Parish Council introduced a 15-minute “Have Your Say” session at the start of all council meetings to receive any questions from registered electors of the parish. If you would like to ask a question to the Parish Council during this item then please contact the Parish Clerk on [email protected] in advance of the meeting.

You are encouraged, but not required, to submit your question in advance. Alternatively you may make a written representation and not attend the meeting, please again contact the Parish Clerk on the details above.  If it seems of sufficient importance it is possible that the council will allow more time to be allocated although not to the extent of causing a material impact on the meeting.

The Chair of the meeting has the power to pause or stop any public engagement should they believe it to be detrimental to the orderly conduct of council business.

Please read guidance notes below before attending.

Parish Council Agenda

The agenda for each month’s meeting will be posted on the noticeboard outside the Co-op and online on the Friday prior to the meeting (i.e., at least five clear days before the meeting).

The agendas have been moved into an electronic document format. They will have one of the following statuses depending on where we are in the meeting cycle:

• Official – this is the official document that will be used for the upcoming meeting.
• Lapsed – this is the document for the immediately preceding meeting, which will remain in place until the next agenda is available.

The online agenda can be found here.

Parish Council Minutes

The minutes from each month’s meeting will be available online within four weeks of the meeting, if not before. Please note that all minutes are published in draft form until approved by the full council at the next meeting. The previous minutes of the Parish Council meetings are available here.

Other Committees

Minutes & other official documents from other committees can be found under the relevant drop-down menu item.

Guidance on Questions From Registered Electors

• 15 minutes only allowed for this item: as stated on the agenda the maximum time for this item is 15 minutes. The Council has a full agenda to get through and can follow up any issues outside of the meeting, either via email or through the relevant Committees.
• 2 minutes only allowed per elector: other members of the public may have items to raise, therefore two minutes is allowed per person in the interest of fairness.
• No RESOLUTIONS can take place under this item: as any issues would not have been listed on the published agenda and therefore members of the public would not have the opportunity to attend, contravening the transparency guidelines. Further debate can be progressed onto the relevant Committee, with their recommendation then brought back to the next Parish Council meeting for a full council decision.
• A simple summary of the main points is all that is required. If electors have already emailed regarding their concern, then there is no need to re-read the email at the meeting. It is safe to assume that all correspondence would have been forwarded to all members of the Council in advance of the meeting.
• Accessibility: anybody wishing to attend with any disability would they advise the Clerk in advance so that appropriate facilities can be arranged, if necessary.
• Recording of meetings: this is permitted subject to conditions detailed under the Standing Orders of the Parish Council which can be summarised as:
  1. The meeting may be recorded either by still image, video or audio for live transmission or later reference.
  2. No live transmission can be accompanied by audible commentary without advance permission.